Just a little bit about my underwater passion...

What to say about a passion? You either get it, or you don't. I guess some history

might be a good place to start.

I started diving while I was in high school, on family trips to Hawaii. My father is a

scuba diver, if inactive, and I am grateful that he chose to share this sport with me.

I became PADI Open Water certified in 1987, from Maui Dive Shop. I didn't dive

much in L.A., however, as gear rental is tricky when you’re a high school student

with no real funds, although my father and I went to Cabo San Lucas once. In 1989,

we returned to Hawaii, and I trained further to obtain my Advanced Open Water

certification. I often wonder what would have happened to my diving life at that point

had I stayed in Los Angeles rather than going to school in Colorado, and eventually

moving to New York. The love was always there, lurking in the background, but it

stayed hidden for a LONG time, until a friend took me to Puerto Vallarta and I took a

refresher while he got his Advanced certification, with Chico's Dive Shop. Even this

wasn't quite enough to fully awaken the beast within. That took a trip to Jamaica

with my wife, where we stayed at Sandals and the scuba diving was included. I

returned completely hooked ... and had the means to buy some gear and get back

into it.

Rescue certification, many specialty certifications, and a LOT of local Southern

California cold water diving eventually lead to becoming professionally certified as

a PADI DiveMaster. In addition, a technical inclination lead to the start of technical

training, including a Fundamentals tech pass from GUE.

Now I'm hopelessly addicted. I hope these pages are useful to you, or at least

interesting, as they represent a major passion in my life.